The state of Texas, which had been a leader for decades among the states in improving education, is now languishing.Several of us reformers have been warning the public about this possibility for years. Sadly, now our warning is proving true.The attached chart shows that the reading proficiency of Texas students has been stagnant for four years. This is so despite the fact that the agency has kept the bar for proficiency at a level far below that of the level recommended by a panel of teachers who believed that the true level required to be on the path to postsecondary readiness was much higher. So, the truth as to the percent proficient is twofold: 1) the numbers are inflated, and 2) the numbers are not increasing.